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Here are a few key points to think about.
1. Sakkaya ditthi is one of three samyojana that need to broken to attain the Sotapanna stage of Nibbana.
2. Samyojana are “bonds” that binds one to the rebirth process (also called sansara or samsara).
When all ten samyojana are broken, one will be free of all attachments (bonds) to the rebirth process, and will never be born anywhere in the 31 realms of this world, none of which is suffering-free.
– There is absolutely no suffering in Parinibbana (after the death of an Arahant).3. Sakkaya ditthi is really about the first comprehension of the sufferings and the dangers in the rebirth process. We tend to think in terms of human births, and tend to disregard other realms.
– But most humans are reborn in the four lower realms including the animal realm. That is the danger to be understood in order to break sakkaya ditthi, a bond to the rebirth process.4. Sakkaya comes from “sath” + “kaya”, where “sath” means “good.” Now, “kaya” can mean two things: one’s physical body or one’s actions.
Sakkāya ditthi encompasses mainly two views: (i) “I am my body,” and I need to keep it beautiful above all. (ii) I can achieve happiness by diligently pursuing (good) things in this world.
– More details at, “Sakkāya Ditthi is Personality (Me) View?”So, these are the key points that one needs to contemplate on, if one wants to overcome sakkaya ditthi and to attain the Sotapanna stage.
October 6, 2019: Ihave replaced original #4 and #5 with just #4 above.
After looking into this, I realized that answer to Siebe’s question is not to be found in a sutta.
He asked: “Does anyone know a sutta reference that shows the 5 heinous crimes lead directly to birth in hell after death?’
and,
“I am more specifically searching for a sutta which clearly states that those listed heinous crimes after death immediately lead to rebirth in hell.”Those five types of strong kamma are called ānatariya kamma (that invariably bring vipāka at the death the current physical body, i.e., will not be carried to future lives).
The five five types of ānatariya kamma are defined in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, not in the Sutta Piṭaka. They are listed under Pañcakamātikā as: “Tattha katamāni pañca kammāni ānantarikāni? Mātā jīvitā voropitā hoti, pitā jīvitā voropito hoti, arahanto jīvitā voropito hoti, duṭṭhena cittena tathāgatassa lohitaṃ uppāditaṃ hoti, saṃgho bhinno hoti—imāni pañca kammāni ānantarikāni. (9)”.
See, “Khuddakavatthu Vibhaṅga“.
I will write a post in the future on this, but the word “anantariya” comes from “na” + “an” + “antara”, or “without delay”.
While other kamma vipaka may be realized in future lives, vipaka of anantara kamma will occur in this life of more commonly at the end of this life.There are “good anantariya kamma” too. For example, if one cultivates jhana, one will be born in a brahma realm at the death of the current physical body.
Here is the complete sutta that Christian quoted:
“Parikuppa Sutta (AN 5.129)“: “Pañcime, bhikkhave, āpāyikā nerayikā parikuppā atekicchā. Katame pañca? Mātā jīvitā voropitā hoti, pitā jīvitā voropito hoti, arahaṃ jīvitā voropito hoti, tathāgatassa duṭṭhena cittena lohitaṃ uppāditaṃ hoti, saṃgho bhinno hoti. Ime kho, bhikkhave, pañca āpāyikā nerayikā parikuppā atekicchā”ti.”I think the translation of the first sentence should be: “There are these five actions that maximally disturbs the mind via attachment to eight things and will lead to birth in an apāya or niraya”.
– But it does not specifically say that one would be born in the apayas immediately following the death of the current physical body.The key words are parikuppā (completely disturbed mind) and atekicchā (strong attachment to eight asaddhamma or “bad things”).
– It is not possible to do such an action without a fully perturbed mind (parikuppā).
– Atekicchā is explained in the “Devadattavipatti Sutta, AN 8.7“.P.S. I revised the above comment regarding the word atekicchā after doing some more research; see my comment below.
Per original request by firewns, just published a post:
“Do Buddhists Pray and Engage in Idol Worshipping?“These four categories of persons are discussed in the posts: “Sutta – Introduction” and “Sutta Learning Sequence for the Present Day“.
However, the sutta that you quoted was not referenced and I just revised the two posts to add the reference.
Thanks, Christian!Hi Tien,
Yes. The death of the physical body is not the end of a human being. The “mental body” or the gandhabba comes out and waits for another womb. That is part of the rebirth process.
Sometimes, as mentioned in the video, gandhabba goes back into the body and the body comes alive. There is a lot a evidence for such Near-Death Experiences (NDE). Some are discussed in, “Manomaya Kaya and Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)“.
Siebe’s questions:
“Are those underlying tendencies when they start to become active a kind of mano sankhara and do they evolve to vaci sankhara?”– Those underlying tendencies are in one’s gati, asava/anusaya. Based on a sense input trigger, they could be “re-awakened” and arise as mano sankhara automatically. Then one may start consciously thinking about it (vaci sankhara), and even may do bodily actions (kaya sankhara). If one is mindful, one could stop those vaci sankhara.
“If so, are they as mano sankhara not able to cause rebirth?”
– As explained above, those gati and asava/anusaya are strengthened not by mano sankhara, but by subsequent vaci/kaya sankhara.
“Does an underlying tendency have to become active (stimulated by a sense-input) to cause rebirth, or is just the presence of an underlying tendency (anusaya) sufficient condition to cause rebirth?”
– Yes. An underlying tendency (gati, asava/anusaya) have to become active (stimulated by a sense-input) to cause rebirth. However, a particular gati, asava/anusaya is triggered by a kamma vipaka at the moment of death (or more accurately at the cuti-patisandhi moment).
More details at: “Dhamma, Sankhara, Sankata, Rupa, Vinnana, Gati, Asava, Anusaya“
Hello AxelSnaxel,
I have sent you an email with contact information for one disciple of Waharaka Thero. I do not know them personally and have not visited the place. I live in the United States.
That is the only place that I know for sure that you can communicate with them in English. You can write to them and see.
Thank you, firewns and Siebe!
There is another sutta which describes how planting of Bo trees was recommended by the Buddha himself:
When the Buddha was absent from Jetavanarama devotees naturally missed him, so Ananda, the Buddha’s attendant, asked the Buddha what in his absence might be used to pay homage to him.
– The Buddha answered that bodily relics, things reminiscent of him and things that he had used, in particular the great Bodhi Tree under which he had attained Enlightenment.
– Ven. Ananda then had a seed of the Bodhi Tree brought to Jetavanarama and planted so that it would be, as the Buddha himself said, as if the Buddha were constantly present at Jetavanarama.If anyone knows which sutta it is, please provide the name.
Welcome to the forum, Vindhya!
You asked: “Can you please give your references for chakkavala being the solar system and not the Milkyway Galaxy?”.
Please see, “31 Realms Associated with the Earth” and “Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27)“.
There are something like 250 billion stars (i.e. cakkavala) in the Milky Way galaxy according to the scientists. So, it is yet unclear how to make a direct comparison.
Firewns asked: “You have mentioned before that it is meritorious to offer fruits and perhaps other food to devas, as the devas can manifest much more quantities of the food for their underlings. But what about the offering of flowers, incense and lights in certain East Asian countries? Can the scent of flowers and incense serve as food for devas as well? What about lights?”
I was going to write a post, but thought of just providing the key ideas first. In the end, it may be good idea to write a post after further discussion and inputs by others. I had written previously (at the discussion forum) about how offerings to devas are actually “consumed” by them, but I cannot find it. If someone finds it please post a link so that I don’t need to re-write that part in a future post.
1. The key point is that those “offerings” are not made just for devas.
– There are many kinds of offerings: meals to the bhikkhus are the most meritorious among the “giving” (dāna) category. Giving to poor or anyone in need and even feeding hungry animals are all meritorious deeds.
– Making offerings to devas is just another category. As you mentioned, I had discussed that before. The mechanism of how that works is hard to visualize for us. I don’t need to re-write that and if anyone remember that post, please provide a link. That would help me writing a post in the future.2. Offering flowers, incense, etc do not belong to that “dāna” category, even though many people make such “offerings” to devas, especially in Hindu temples.
– In Buddhist temples, such “offerings” are made to the Buddha.
– In reality, these “offerings of the second kind” setup the necessary background for the mind to grasp the Buddha Dhamma, and thus to lead to “bhava uddha” (stopping existences in any of the 31 realms), which is the real meaning of “Buddha”; see, “A Buddhist or a Bhauddhaya?“.3. For example, those flowers symbolize the anicca nature. They are pretty when they offered, but in a couple of days they become wrinkled and eventually wither away. The idea is not to admire the beauty of the flowers, but to contemplate on the anicca nature clearly displayed by the decay of those flowers.
– The incense offered emit an odor that conducive to mediation. Even though it is a pleasing odor, it is very different from those fragrances that one wears to a party, which has the tendency to encourage “seeking sense pleasures”.
– In other words, those fragrances worn to a party leads to sensual thoughts, whereas the smell of incenses is conducive to meditation, since it helps calm the mind.4. Lighting of candles of oil lamps also provide a suitable background for meditation and contemplation. Light symbolizes wisdom.
– Comprehending Buddha Dhamma leads to the opening of the “Dhamma eye”, and enables one to “see the true nature of the world of 31 realms”, i.e., existence in ANY of those realms is NOT devoid of suffering.
– Furthermore, an oil lamp symbolizes the how the rebirth process is maintained by cravings. Just as oil keeps an oil lamp burning, cravings (tanhā) fuel the rebirth process.5. When I was child in Sri Lanka, our family used to go to the temple regularly, especially on Full Moon days when bhikkhu would deliver a discourse (desana).
– We would go to the temple ahead the delivery of the desana, and would offer flowers to the Buddha, light some oil lamps and incense, and recite several gathas while make those “offerings”. Then we would sit and listen to an hour-long desana by a bhikkhu.
– That really helps calm the mind and get in to a mindset where one is able to forget about the day-to-day stresses and comprehend the desana.6. That is a brief introduction. This is a topic to be discussed in more detail. For example, some people question the practice of “worshipping” Bo trees, stupas, or statues of the Buddha.
– In reality, it is not “worship” or “pay homage” to inanimate objects. One is paying homage to the Buddha, and cultivating a calm mindset in order to grasp the deep Dhamma that the Buddha taught in order to get to the “bhava uddha” or Buddha state.
– Furthermore, those aspects have nothing to do with making offerings to devas.Thank you, firewns.
I need more rest than I used to. So, it may take some time to be “back to normal”. However, I participating in the forum discussions is not a problem.
Your question needs a long explanation. It may be better to write a post on that and it may take several days.
Yes. This is discussed in, “Amazingly Fast Time Evolution of a Thought (Citta)“. Especially see #12.
However, those memories are not stored in the brain, even though the brain is needed to “extract those memories”; see, “The Amazing Mind – Critical Role of Nāmagotta (Memories)“.
